


Lending a Hand (Sanitizer)

by AnneNEmity



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Badass Rey, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Rey Needs A Hug, Soft Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23099914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneNEmity/pseuds/AnneNEmity
Summary: Rey and Ben get into a kerfuffle in an empty aisle at a Sav-On DrugstoreOr“Take my hand..”“…No, I’d rather not, thanks.”
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51
Collections: Reylo, Reylo modern!AU trash, reylo trash





	Lending a Hand (Sanitizer)

Rey waved a hand, launching the automatic doors in either direction with a woosh. 

She ducked inside to escape the torrential downpour and grabbed a red basket by the door. After wiping the thin metal handle down with disinfectant wipe, (probably a counterfeit but what other choice did she have,) she turned down the first aisle, her clicking heels creating an ear-splitting echo in the eerie silence of the Sav-on Drugstore. She stormed down the aisle, eager to get these errands done so she can sequester herself back in her house and wait out the storm. 

She squeezed some water from her hair knots with her scarf before more droplets could join their friends currently sliding down her spine and dampening the back of her blouse. Cognizant, yet unapologetic of the drip, drip, drip, she was leaving in her wake on the shiny white floors, she looked back and forth on the shelves beside her. Her surroundings did nothing to improve her mood. 

Much as she'd seen in the last three stores, the shelves were barren. Sparse packages of oddly flavored crisps and questionably colored pop in dust-covered bottles were the only things that remained. She turned right at the end of the first aisle, looking up at the sign hanging above the next and moving on. She continued on down the back of the shop, reading each sign and moving on, she slowed at the sound of a gruff voice in the next aisle over.

“Yes, Mother, I’ve checked…. No, I’ve been to three other stores…. Yes… No, that’s not necessary. …Che….Chewie, no, put Mother back on…. Fine. We will be fine with this. Alright… No, I heard her, tell her 'I know.'” He said, before ending the call on the phone in his left hand and slipping it into his coat pocket. As if he could feel eyes on him, the man turned towards her end of the hall, but Rey slipped back out of view just in time to make it very obvious she had been eavesdropping like some creepy lurker. The man didn’t comment as he turned to walk away in the other direction. 

Rey turned the corner and headed to the hand-sanitizer, her stomach crawling up into her throat as empty shelf space greeted her yet again. She looked back towards the man, carrying a basket that when carried by the broad-shouldered man, looked like a child's toy used to build sandcastles at the beach. She scoffed at the mental image of the giant, muscular-man digging a hole at the beach, surrounded by screaming birds as waves crash over him. She stopped laughing when she spotted the contents of his basket. 

“Excuse me? Oi! Mate!” She called after him, dodging the other scavengers picking through the sad remnants of the stores’ wares. “Sir!” She tugged at her pencil skirt as it inched it’s way up her stockings.

The man stopped at this and turned to face her. “Yes?” He asked, raising one large eyebrow and feigning that she hadn't just been staring at him moments before. 

Rey, continued toward him, irritated at herself for being polite to someone who would clear out the entire stock of something that everyone on the planet wanted, but stopped short in front of him, taken in by his dark features and captivated by the deep brown eyes. She'd only see his back before, this angle was much more...

_Snap out of it! Focus!_ She scolded herself, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin well higher than she’d like to meet his eye. She shivered, due to another droplet escaping from her bun and sliding down her neck, and definitely not under the pressure of his intent stare. 

“You’ve taken the last of the sanitizer. I really need one and you’ve got like four there.” She nodded in the direction of the loot.

“I need it,” he huffed.

“Look around you, Love,” she chided, waving a hand at the cavernous shelves “We all need it. Learn to share, eh?” She took in his clothing, perfectly pressed and dry, unlike her own sopping ensemble. Even his coat was almost dry, the collar still up in the back to guard his long neck against the onslaught of freezing rain. She looked around for an umbrella but assumed it was hidden away somewhere in his well-tailored coat. His clothing alone would cover a month’s rent. 

“Sharing will be a lesson for tomorrow, perhaps. Excuse me,” he turned on his heel and began to walk towards the cash register.

_Pompous prat thinks he can walk away from me while I’m talking to him?_

Rey stomped after him, the tile clacking under the attack of her heels, each click twice as fast for each of his long strides. “I’ve tried five stores!” She called after him, then paused, considering a new tactic. “You might say I’ve been looking for hand sanitizer in Alderaan places?” She smiled with a wince, teeth clenched together at her poor attempt at humor.

“My mother was from Alderaan,” he growled without slowing. 

_Well, that could have gone better..._

“Please.” She said, “I just need one.”

The man turned again to face her, his features softer, as if he finally registered that she was a person, like him, just trying to make it in this emotionally charged world. 

“My mom is sick.” The man said in a lowered voice, “And my dad has more preexisting conditions than I can count. They are part of the 2% you know?” He asked, shrugging. “I’m just trying to do everything I can to keep this from impacting our lives more than it already has.”

“I get that, but the rest of us are trying to do the same. I don’t have parents or a family at home, but my friend, he…he has a child. I get that things are bad and may get worse, but I hope that people can work together, that at some point everyone realizes that this is the way….” 

“I get it. I get it.” He said, raising his hands in defeat. The man nodded a few times before reaching into his basket and depositing a large bottle of hand sanitizer into Rey’s.

_Thank the maker! He does have a heart inside that monolith of a body!_

“Thank you.” She said, smiling up at him before turning away to go verbally assault someone for the last roll of toilet paper. 

“I’m Ben,” he said from behind her. She turned back to him and his outstretched hand, the silent plea for her to take it. “Ben Solo.”

She looked down at his hand then back up at him with a smile. She raised her hand in response, thumb jetted out, remaining fingers paired together and spread apart. “I’m Rey.” 

“What the hell is that?” He asked with a laugh, trying and failing to repeat the gesture. 

“It’s the new hygienic greeting,” she said, returning his smile. “It has no other implications or associations whatsoever.” She smiled, lowering her hand back to her side.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting on A03! I have no idea if I did it right, but thank you to @jeenonamit for setting a prompt that was too entertaining to pass up ;) Feel free to give me any suggestions on how to use this amazing site <3


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